David interviews Mark McRae about why he does other things besides simply the business of trading.

Mark: When a friend of mine wanted to know how hard it was to trade on the market, I informed him that I was a psychic. It was the first Friday of the month at 8:30 PM EST. I showed him the market and predicted that it would drop or rise in thirty seconds. He informed me that he didn’t believe me, and I told him to keep watching.

He watched, and like clockwork the market jumped about two hundred points in thirty seconds. He was utterly amazed, and wondered if I could do it every single time. This was before news trading was popular. It’s impossible to predict what will happen with your money management, which means remaining in the game is very important.

David: That brings me to a question that I really didn’t want to ask you, but if you are so successful in the market, then why do you bother teaching others how to do it? In all honesty, wouldn’t it be better to make money off somewhere by yourself keeping your trading system secret?

Mark: That’s not a bad question, and it’s actually a pretty simple answer. Why do I do anything I do? I do it to make money. This is why I teach others how to use the market. Almost no one would be able to use the market if someone didn’t teach them the business of trading, and money should be the primary goal. For instance, I’m not trading right now.

Throughout your trading career, you need to be active. Sure, you might be using daily charts to keep track, but you need to watch them as often as possible. Right now I’m making money. Copies of my books are being sold and I’m making royalties from them, and that miniscule amount of money will help me to get by.

When you trade you will find that it goes up and down a lot, and when I teach, making money that way, I don’t have to deal with the fluctuations. The pressure is gone, and it lets me do other things. For instance right now I’m talking to you guys.

David: I think that’s a good answer. What are your thoughts on how much money do you need to actually make trading your full-time gig. Should other people look at other things as well, like yourself? You’ve got courses about stock trading system and things like that that you do. Is that something that other people should aspire to, or what are your thoughts on that?

Mark: In all honesty, this is something that anyone could do to make extra money on the side, and if you are comfortable with it, then go for it.